{"id":3738,"date":"2012-07-05T03:30:28","date_gmt":"2012-07-05T10:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/blog\/?p=3738"},"modified":"2012-07-06T08:37:34","modified_gmt":"2012-07-06T15:37:34","slug":"1-thessalonians-44-sacred-and-honorable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/1-thessalonians-44-sacred-and-honorable\/","title":{"rendered":"1 Thessalonians 4:4 – Sacred and Honorable"},"content":{"rendered":"

that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,<\/strong><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Sex within a marriage is undefiled, sacred, and honorable.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Eid\u014d<\/em> <\/span>it the Greek word translated “know<\/span>.” We have pointed out previously that this word literally means “to see with perception.” However, Paul may be using this word as a Hebrew expression meaning “to have regard for” or “to care for.” This is the apparent meaning in 1 Thessalonians 5:12<\/strong><\/span> (know those who labor …<\/span>), and is probably Paul’s intent here.<\/p>\n

The Greek verb translated “possess<\/span>” is ktaomai<\/em><\/span>, which primarily means “to get for oneself, to acquire, or to purchase.” When expressed in the perfect tense (past completed action with an ongoing effect) it can also mean “to have acquired” or “to possess.” Although it is expressed here as a present tense infinitive, many Biblical scholars believe that Paul’s meaning here is “to possess” or “to take care of.”<\/p>\n

“Vessel<\/span>” is translated from skeuos<\/em><\/span>, meaning “a container, utensil, or implement.”<\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

This is probably one of the most difficult verses in this letter to the Thessalonians. The difficulty is due primarily to the three words we looked at above (eid\u014d<\/em><\/span>, ktaomai<\/em><\/span>, and skeuos<\/em><\/span>) along with the word porneia<\/em><\/span>, which we saw in the previous verse.<\/p>\n

Let’s start with porneia<\/em><\/span>. This word originally referred to “prostitution.” If we look at the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament) we can see the meaning of the Hebrew words that were translated with porneia<\/em><\/span>. These various words mean, “lying down like a prostitute, harlotry, prostitution, or unfaithfulness.” Thus, it does not refer to just any sexual sin, but specifically to “sex with another person outside of marriage.” The best translation of this word is “fornication.”<\/p>\n

Now let’s look at ktaomai<\/em><\/span>. It literally means “to acquire.” Again, looking at the Septuagint, we see in Ruth 4:10<\/strong><\/span> that ktaomai<\/em> <\/span>is used to translate a word that means “to acquire.”<\/p>\n

…  I have acquired as my wife …<\/span> (Ruth 4:10<\/strong><\/span>)<\/p>\n

Skeuos<\/em><\/span>, as noted above, refers to “a container, utensil, or implement.” In 1 Peter 3:7<\/span>,<\/strong> it refers specifically to the physical body of a man’s wife. But in 2 Corinthians 4:7<\/strong><\/span> and 2 Timothy 2:21<\/strong><\/span> it refers to a person’s own body, so it isn’t necessarily a reference to a wife, though it probably is here.<\/p>\n

Therefore, a reasonable translation of this verse would be “each of you should know how to acquire his vessel in sanctification and honor.” But Paul is talking about abstaining from fornication. Why would the knowledge of<\/em> acquiring<\/em> a wife prevent fornication? It wouldn’t, but knowing how to possess<\/em> a wife (to provide for her, to care for her, and to respect her) means knowing how to treat her as one with your own body (Matthew 19:5, 1 Corinthians 6:16, Ephesians 5:31<\/strong><\/span>.) That’s the key to avoiding fornication.<\/p>\n

Application<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Sexual gratification should never be the reason for getting married. Marriage is an intimate relationship between a man and a woman, and the pleasure of sexual intercourse is only a part of that relationship. Therefore, there is no justification for sex outside of marriage. Marriage (and sex within a marriage) is intended to be undefiled, sacred, and honorable before God. <\/p>\n

In God's service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Copyright © 2012 Will Krause. All rights reserved<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, Truth to Learn Sex within a marriage is undefiled, sacred, and honorable. Behind the Words Eid\u014d it the Greek word translated “know.” We have pointed out previously that this word literally means “to see with perception.” However, Paul may […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[735,2350,589,2725,2353,2724,2726,1137],"class_list":["post-3738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-eido","tag-fornication","tag-know","tag-ktaomai","tag-porneia","tag-possess","tag-skeuos","tag-vessel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-Yi","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3738"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3744,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3738\/revisions\/3744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}